Disclaimer: See chapter 1

A/N: I apologize to those who have been waiting for a new chapter. The site has not allowed me to upload a document since Friday. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

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Linda Kimura stood at the nurses' station writing her comments in the doctor's progress notes of one of the anthrax patients. Lena Stouffer leaned over and whispered to Kelly Heath, "Is it just me or does Dr. Kimura seem more dressed up than usual? I've never seen her in anything but pants and I've never seen her with her hair down."

"The French braid really suits her," Kelly whispered back, "but I don't think she did it to impress us."

"No, but I have the distinct feeling she's trying to impress someone. Wait until the evening girls get a load of this."

Dr. Kimura looked up from the chart she was writing in when a man came down the hall in army fatigues. He stopped at the nurses' desk and identified himself as Corporal McLean. "I have some things here belonging to," he read off his requisition form, "Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid. All the items have been completely sanitized and autoclaved." He held up the zip locked plastic bag. The three women could see it contained a gun and holster, a badge and ID, a wallet, keys and some coins. "It has to be signed for," he told them. Dr. Kimura took the requisition from the corporal and signed on the indicated space. "Thank you, ma'am," the corporal said before he turned smartly and walked down the hall once again.

"Do you want me to take those things to Dr. Reid, Dr. Kimura?" Kelly asked.

"No, that's fine, I'm going to check up on him anyway, I'll take them." She finished her note in the chart, grabbed the plastic bag and headed down the hallway, oblivious to the knowing looks of the nurses.

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"Let Morgan in on what?" Morgan asked from the doorway.

Garcia and Emily turned toward the door like they'd suddenly been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "Oh nothing," Emily said nonchalantly.

"Come on, I heard you. This has something to do with Reid. What's the kid done now?"

"Nothing," Garcia replied. "He hasn't done anything."

Morgan nodded and smiled at the women as he reached for the coffee pot and filled his mug emblazoned with the FBI emblem with the steaming brew. "You might as well give it up now," he said as he stood with his back to the counter, the mug of coffee in one hand while he waved his index finger around the room taking in the three women, "Because I'm going to find out eventually. Baby girl," he looked directly at Garcia, "you know you can't hold out on your man."

"Oh my God," JJ jumped up. "Look at the time; I've got to get ready for the briefing. Garcia, I need you to look into that…that thing for me."

"Right, on it JJ," Garcia followed JJ from the room.

"I better go and…uh get ready for the briefing," Emily said as she followed the others out the door.

"You can run but you can't hide. What are you girls hiding and what does it have to do with my man?"

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Linda Kimura stood in the doorway of Reid's room. He was sitting on top of the bed, the bedside table wheeled in front of him. His long fingers moved quickly as he shuffled a deck of cards with all the dexterity of a Las Vegas dealer. She knocked lightly on the door before entering. "I come bearing gifts," she held up the bag.

Reid's eyes grew large and he smiled broadly, "My stuff, I thought I'd never get them back." He grabbed the bag from her hand like she was offering water to a man lost in the desert. He looked in the bag and could see all his things; there it was nestled with the coins he'd been carrying in his pocket, his medallion. He wanted to reach into the bag and grab it, to feel its familiar shape, its grooves and ridges, which had been memorized by his fingers over time. He wanted to feel the engraving but mostly to get the feeling of achievement he felt when he fingered it, a reminder of a struggle overcome. He couldn't do that though, not in front of Dr. Kimura.

"I'm glad I made your day," she smiled. "You know that gun is going to have to go to security and be locked up."

"Yeah, I understand, that's fine."

"So, how are you feeling?" she asked as she removed the stethoscope from around her neck and listened to his chest.

"I'm feeling good," he replied.

"Your chest sounds good," she said when she removed the ear pieces and replaced the stethoscope around her neck. "Your blood work is normal. I'm going to stop the IV fluids. We're going to leave the heplock in but just for medications. So, you can walk around without toting this pole."

"That would be great," Reid said as he shuffled the cards again and cut them expertly using only one of his long fingered hands.

"You're pretty good at that. Do you use cards to do your magic tricks?"

His eyes widened at her words, "How did you…?"

"Agent Morgan told me when you were still out of it that you did magic," she responded, smiling.

"What else did he say about me?" Reid asked suspiciously.

"Nothing bad if that's what you're thinking. Your friends love you and they wanted to share what they love about you." Reid's face turned what Linda thought was an adorable shade of pink at her words and quickly turned his attention to his cards. "Can you do a trick for me?" she asked as she sat down beside his bed.

Reid shuffled the cards again using various styles and fanned them out in front of Linda face up and then in one smooth move fanned them again face down. "Pick a card, any card." Linda withdrew a card and looked at it. Reid closed the deck. "Put it back anywhere in the deck." Linda did so while Reid looked away. He shuffled the deck a few times and began to leaf the cards out one at a time. After quite a few cards he said, "It must be near the bottom of the deck." He came to the last card of the deck and his eyes grew huge with surprise while Linda's face deflated when she didn't see her card. Reid gave a small embarrassed laugh. "Uh…maybe it stuck to another card," he said as he went through the deck again. "I don't get it, this always works. Maybe being sick has put me off my game."

"But where would it go? Maybe it fell on the floor," Linda said looking down, praying to see the card and take the sadness out of those beautiful brown eyes.

"It's okay," he yelled, "I found it."

Her head popped up, "Was it stuck to another card?"

"No, it was," he reached behind her left ear, "right here all the time." The hand that she was positive had been empty now held a playing card. Reid turned the card over with a grin. "Is the queen of hearts your card, Dr. Kimura?"